The Character of Iago in Othello One of the most intriguing characters in the tragic play "Othello", by William Shakespeare, is Othello's "friend", Iago. At first glance, Iago appears to have no reason for the destruction he is causing. However, despite Iago's unquestionable malice, the motivation behind his actions lies more in Iago's pursuit of personal gain, rather than simply being evil for evil's sake. For his personal gain, Iago manipulates Rodrigo, Cassio and, above all, Othello. Iago's main interest is the destruction of Othello. The reason is that Othello chose another man, Cassio, as his second in command, preferring him to Iago. This resentment, accompanied by his false accusations of adultery and his blatant racism, causes Iago to despise Othello and, shortly thereafter, begin to conspire against him. Instead of simply killing Othello, Iago proceeds to attack him emotionally. Iago begins to manipulate the people around him to hurt Othello and make him believe that his wife, Desdimona, and Cassio are having an affair. The first to fall victim to Iago's manipulation is Rodrigo. Iago knows that Rodrigo has feelings for Desdemona and will do anything to make her his. Iago tells Rodrigo that the only way to win Desdemona's love is to earn money to get her gifts. “…put the money in your bag..” (Act 1, scene 3, line 339). However, Iago simply takes the gifts intended for Desdemona and keeps them for himself, thus making a considerable profit. “So I always make my fool my bag” (Act 1, scene 3, line 376). Rodrigo eventually begins to question Iago's honesty. Faced with this accusation, Iago simply says that killing Cassio will help his cause and the gullible Rodrigo falls for it. “I have no great devotion to the act and yet it has given me a satisfactory reason” (Act 5, scene 1, line 8). In this way, Iago keeps Rodrigo in the dark and continues to profit from him monetarily. Cassio, like Rodrigo, follows Iago blindly, all the while thinking that Iago is trying to help him, when in reality Iago, motivated by his lust for power, is attempting to depose Cassio from his position as lieutenant. Iago does this by getting Cassio drunk and causing him to argue and disturb Othello, Othello then demotes Cassio from his rank of second in command thus securing the position for Iago..